Letters Add Intrigue To Gold Coin In Kettle

November 29, 2001|By Sandra Mathers, Sentinel Staff Writer

Orlando's Salvation Army has a secret Santa.

A $5 Canadian gold piece, dropped in a holiday red kettle the day before Thanksgiving, didn't even raise an eyebrow among Salvation Army veterans -- until they learned of anonymous letters promising more gold this year and in the Christmases ahead.

Copies of letters addressed to Maj. David Birmingham, the agency's area commander, and Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood arrived this week at the Orlando Sentinel explaining the 2001 gold piece.

The writer, who claimed to be a member of the International Knights of Alberta, "an anonymous humanitarian social order" in Canada, said a member dropped the gold coin in an Orange County kettle.

The letter promised a U.S. gold piece "will follow soon."

The writer asked only that the Salvation Army display Canadian and U.S. flags in the window of its thrift store on West Colonial Drive starting next year and even offered to send the flags.

"Should the flags not be displayed the day after Thanksgiving 2002, our member will drive by the Salvation Army Thrift Store for up to four additional days until the flags appear," the writer said. "That's all we ask."

"I'll do it!" promised a bemused Birmingham, who said this week he has not received the letter addressed to him. "I think it's intriguing. Who knows what they're going to do."

Orlando's benefactor promised to continue dropping gold pieces into Orlando's kettles every year the flags appear during the five days after Thanksgiving. The writer also promised to send "symbolic monetary gifts" to two other local charities annually.

In Morgantown, W.Va., an anonymous donor has been placing $1,000 in the form of a U.S. gold coin or single bill in Salvation Army kettles for about 18 years, said area commander Capt. Edward Long.

"We get the money from a local donor, who is rumored to have passed away five years ago," Long said. "But his family and the bank continue the tradition."